XRDB(1)			    General Commands Manual		       XRDB(1)



NAME
       xrdb - X server resource database utility

SYNOPSIS
       xrdb [-option ...] [filename]

DESCRIPTION
       Xrdb  is	 used to get or set the contents of the RESOURCE_MANAGER prop-
       erty on the root window of screen 0, or the  SCREEN_RESOURCES  property
       on  the root window of any or all screens, or everything combined.  You
       would normally run this program from your X startup file.

       Most X clients use the RESOURCE_MANAGER and SCREEN_RESOURCES properties
       to get user preferences about color, fonts, and so on for applications.
       Having this information in the server (where it	is  available  to  all
       clients) instead of on disk, solves the problem in previous versions of
       X that required you to maintain defaults files on  every	 machine  that
       you might use.  It also allows for dynamic changing of defaults without
       editing files.

       The RESOURCE_MANAGER property is used for resources that apply  to  all
       screens	of  the display.  The SCREEN_RESOURCES property on each screen
       specifies additional (or overriding) resources  to  be  used  for  that
       screen.	 (When	there is only one screen, SCREEN_RESOURCES is normally
       not used, all resources are just placed in the  RESOURCE_MANAGER	 prop-
       erty.)

       The  file specified by filename (or the contents from standard input if
       - or no filename is given) is optionally	 passed	 through  the  C  pre-
       processor with the following symbols defined, based on the capabilities
       of the server being used:

       SERVERHOST=hostname
	       the hostname portion of the display to which you are connected.

       SRVR_name
	       the SERVERHOST hostname string turned into a legal  identifier.
	       For	   example,	   "my-dpy.lcs.mit.edu"	       becomes
	       SRVR_my_dpy_lcs_mit_edu.

       HOST=hostname
	       the same as SERVERHOST.

       DISPLAY_NUM=num
	       the number of the display on the server host.

       CLIENTHOST=hostname
	       the name of the host on which xrdb is running.

       CLNT_name
	       the CLIENTHOST hostname string turned into a legal  identifier.
	       For example, "expo.lcs.mit.edu" becomes CLNT_expo_lcs_mit_edu.

       RELEASE=num
	       the  vendor  release number for the server.  The interpretation
	       of this number will vary depending on VENDOR.

       REVISION=num
	       the X protocol minor version supported  by  this	 server	 (cur-
	       rently 0).

       VERSION=num
	       the  X  protocol major version supported by this server (should
	       always be 11).

       VENDOR="vendor"
	       a string literal specifying the vendor of the server.

       VNDR_name
	       the VENDOR name string turned into  a  legal  identifier.   For
	       example, "MIT X Consortium" becomes VNDR_MIT_X_Consortium.

       EXT_name
	       A  symbol  is  defined for each protocol extension supported by
	       the server.  Each extension string name is turned into a	 legal
	       identifier.  For example, "X3D-PEX" becomes EXT_X3D_PEX.

       NUM_SCREENS=num
	       the total number of screens.

       SCREEN_NUM=num
	       the number of the current screen (from zero).

       BITS_PER_RGB=num
	       the  number  of significant bits in an RGB color specification.
	       This is the log base 2 of the number of distinct shades of each
	       primary	that  the hardware can generate.  Note that it usually
	       is not related to PLANES.

       CLASS=visualclass
	       one of StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor,  PseudoColor,	 True-
	       Color,  DirectColor.  This is the visual class of the root win-
	       dow.

       CLASS_visualclass=visualid
	       the visual class of the root window in a form  you  can	#ifdef
	       on.  The value is the numeric id of the visual.

       COLOR   defined only if CLASS is one of StaticColor, PseudoColor, True-
	       Color, or DirectColor.

       CLASS_visualclass_depth=num
	       A symbol is defined for each visual supported for  the  screen.
	       The  symbol includes the class of the visual and its depth; the
	       value is the numeric id of the visual.  (If more than one  vis-
	       ual  has	 the same class and depth, the numeric id of the first
	       one reported by the server is used.)

       HEIGHT=num
	       the height of the root window in pixels.

       WIDTH=num
	       the width of the root window in pixels.

       PLANES=num
	       the number of bit planes (the depth) of the root window.

       X_RESOLUTION=num
	       the x resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.

       Y_RESOLUTION=num
	       the y resolution of the screen in pixels per meter.

       SRVR_name, CLNT_name, VNDR_name, and EXT_name identifiers are formed by
       changing	 all characters other than letters and digits into underscores
       (_).

       Lines that begin with an exclamation mark (!) are ignored  and  may  be
       used as comments.

       Note  that  since  xrdb can read from standard input, it can be used to
       the change the contents of properties directly from a terminal or  from
       a shell script.

OPTIONS
       xrdb program accepts the following options:

       -help   This  option  (or  any  unsupported  option) will cause a brief
	       description of the  allowable  options  and  parameters	to  be
	       printed.

       -display display
	       This  option  specifies	the X server to be used; see X(7).  It
	       also specifies the screen to use for the -screen option, and it
	       specifies  the  screen  from  which  preprocessor  symbols  are
	       derived for the -global option.

       -all    This option indicates that operation should be performed on the
	       screen-independent  resource  property  (RESOURCE_MANAGER),  as
	       well as	the  screen-specific  property	(SCREEN_RESOURCES)  on
	       every  screen  of  the display.	For example, when used in con-
	       junction with -query, the contents of all properties  are  out-
	       put.   For  -load, -override and -merge, the input file is pro-
	       cessed once for each screen.  The resources which occur in com-
	       mon in the output for every screen are collected, and these are
	       applied as the  screen-independent  resources.	The  remaining
	       resources  are applied for each individual per-screen property.
	       This the default mode of operation.

       -global This option indicates that the operation should	only  be  per-
	       formed on the screen-independent RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

       -screen This  option  indicates	that the operation should only be per-
	       formed on the SCREEN_RESOURCES property of the  default	screen
	       of the display.

       -screens
	       This option indicates that the operation should be performed on
	       the SCREEN_RESOURCES property of each screen  of	 the  display.
	       For  -load,  -override  and -merge, the input file is processed
	       for each screen.

       -n      This option indicates that changes to the specified  properties
	       (when  used with -load, -override or -merge) or to the resource
	       file (when used with -edit) should be  shown  on	 the  standard
	       output, but should not be performed.

       -quiet  This  option  indicates	that  warning  about duplicate entries
	       should not be displayed.

       -cpp filename
	       This option specifies the pathname of the C  preprocessor  pro-
	       gram  to	 be  used.  Although xrdb was designed to use CPP, any
	       program that acts as a filter and accepts the -D,  -I,  and  -U
	       options may be used.

       -nocpp  This  option  indicates that xrdb should not run the input file
	       through a preprocessor before loading it into properties.

       -symbols
	       This option indicates that the symbols that are defined for the
	       preprocessor should be printed onto the standard output.

       -query  This  option  indicates that the current contents of the speci-
	       fied properties should be printed  onto	the  standard  output.
	       Note  that  since  preprocessor	commands in the input resource
	       file are part of the input file, not part of the property, they
	       won't  appear in the output from this option.  The -edit option
	       can be used to merge the contents of properties back  into  the
	       input resource file without damaging preprocessor commands.

       -load   This  option  indicates	that the input should be loaded as the
	       new value of the specified properties, replacing	 whatever  was
	       there  (i.e.   the  old	contents  are  removed).   This is the
	       default action.

       -override
	       This option indicates  that  the	 input	should	be  added  to,
	       instead	of  replacing,	the  current contents of the specified
	       properties.  New entries override previous entries.

       -merge  This option indicates that the input should be merged and lexi-
	       cographically  sorted  with,  instead of replacing, the current
	       contents of the specified properties.

       -remove This option indicates that the specified properties  should  be
	       removed from the server.

       -retain This  option indicates that the server should be instructed not
	       to reset if xrdb is the first client.   This  should  never  be
	       necessary  under	 normal conditions, since xdm and xinit always
	       act as the first client.

       -edit filename
	       This option indicates that the contents of the specified	 prop-
	       erties should be edited into the given file, replacing any val-
	       ues already listed there.  This allows you to put changes  that
	       you  have  made	to your defaults back into your resource file,
	       preserving any comments or preprocessor lines.

       -backup string
	       This option specifies a suffix to be appended to	 the  filename
	       used with -edit to generate a backup file.

       -Dname[=value]
	       This  option  is passed through to the preprocessor and is used
	       to define symbols for use with conditionals such as #ifdef.

       -Uname  This option is passed through to the preprocessor and  is  used
	       to remove any definitions of this symbol.

       -Idirectory
	       This  option  is passed through to the preprocessor and is used
	       to specify a directory to search for files that are  referenced
	       with #include.

FILES
       Generalizes ~/.Xdefaults files.

SEE ALSO
       X(7),  appres(1),  listres(1),  Xlib Resource Manager documentation, Xt
       resource documentation

ENVIRONMENT
       DISPLAY to figure out which display to use.

BUGS
       The default for no arguments should be to query, not to	overwrite,  so
       that it is consistent with other programs.

AUTHORS
       Bob Scheifler, Phil Karlton, rewritten from the original by Jim Gettys



X Version 11			  xrdb 1.0.9			       XRDB(1)